N.P Mander Limited later Mander Organs Limited was an
Englishpipe organ maker and refurbisher based in
London. Although well known for many years in the organ building industry, they achieved wider notability in 2004 with the refurbishment of the
Royal Albert Hall's
Father WillisGrand Organ. That company filed for insolvency in 2020 with their trading name and intellectual rights being bought out by the Canterbury firm F. H Browne and Sons.
N.P Mander built and installed numerous celebrated
organs, notably the 68-stop four manual and pedal organ in the
Church of St Ignatius Loyola, New York[1] – reportedly the largest mechanical action built by a British builder.
Simon Preston said of this instrument: "It is difficult to do justice to this famous instrument in a couple of sentences; suffice to say that to look at this beautiful instrument is to know the sound that will come out of it."[2]
New N.P Mander
organs were generally
tracker action, which enables the player to give somewhat more expression and removes the delays which are inherent in many electrically actuated organs.
The company was founded in 1936 by
Noel Mander. An early setback was the loss of the organ he was working on, along with all his tools, in the first
air raid of
the Blitz in 1940. The rebuilding of church organs after
World War II provided significant business for the company.
Following the retirement of Noel Mander in 1983, the firm was run by John Pike Mander, Noel Mander's son. On John Pike Mander's retirement at the end of 2018 the company's shareholding was transferred to an
Employee Ownership Trust, giving all members of staff a stake in the future of the business.[3][4]
Closure and purchase by F.H. Browne & Sons
The company unexpectedly closed in July 2020 following financial difficulties exacerbated by the
COVID-19 pandemic.[5]
The Mander trading name along with all the firms intellectual property and rights was bought by F.H Browne & Sons Organ Builders - another South East regional organ-building firm based near Canterbury and established since 1871. Employing several ex N.P Mander staff, F.H Browne & Sons trades as Mander Organ Builders.